A former fundamentalist who became the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, Shannon TL Kearns believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer all of his work revolves around making meaning through story. His book
In the Margins: A Transgender Man's Journey With Scripture is published Eerdmaan's books.
No One Taught Me How To Be A Man: What a Trans Man's Experience Reveals About Masculinity is published by Broadleaf Books.
Shannon is a co-founder of QueerTheology.com. His work there with Brian G. Murphy has reached more than a million people all over the world through videos, articles, and online courses and community. They have the longest running LBGTQ+ Spirituality podcast in the world.
Shannon is a Humanitas New Voices Fellow for 2022 and was a recipient of the Playwrights' Center Jerome Fellowship in 20/21 and he was a Lambda Literary Fellow for 2019 (in playwriting) and 2022 (in screenwriting) and a Finnovation Fellow for 2019/2020. He is a sought after speaker on transgender issues and religion as well as a skilled facilitator of a variety of workshops. Shannon's plays include
Laughing, Flexing, Dying,
Stories We Tell At the End of the World,
Body+Blood,
in a stand of dying trees,
Line of Sight,
Twisted Deaths,
The Resistance of My Skin, and
Who Has Eyes To See. Shannon's television pilots include:
The Family Unit, Transformed, and
Freedom, Kansas. Selected recognition: Winner of the ScreenCraft Pitch competition, finalist for Bull City Film Festival for his pilot
Transformed, a playwright in residence at the Inge House, Seven Devils' Playwright Conference, Great Plains Theatre Commons, a semi-finalist for the O'Neill, and a finalist for the Blue Ink playwriting award.
